History

Wiemann began life in 1900, in a 15sq m basement of an inn in Oesede, where 23-year-old Mathias Wiemann set up shop as a carpenter/ furniture maker, having completed his own apprenticeship a few years earlier.

Over the next 10 years, Mathias took on his own first apprentice, expanded to a 65 sq m workshop and invested in his first machinery. He made bespoke furniture including chests and wardrobes and completed commissions such as pews for the local Catholic church. He also supplemented his income working as a farmer and innkeeper.

In 1902 his son Henrich Wilhelm, later to become company boss, was born.

Wiemann survived the years of runaway inflation in 1922-3 and, as the economy recovered continued to produce high quality wood products. In 1927 the business is operating under the name Mathias Wiemann – Mechanical Construction and Furniture Company. Meanwhile Mathias’ farming interests are also expanding as he adds the 45 hectare Drop Farm to his property portfolio.

During  WW2 , Wiemann was instructed to make barracks and became the first wood processing company to introduce the REFA system (the German time management/business processes system still in use today).

On 2^nd April 1945, instructions came to blow up the factory to prevent it passing into ‘enemy hands’. Instead, Wilhelm Wiemann buried everything in the nearby forest!  When the British arrived a few weeks later, Wiemann was ordered to continue to build barracks – but it also made a start on getting back to making some wood furniture for civilians too.

In 1946 and again 1947, the nearby River Düte flooded and destroyed most of the wood and veneer stocks as well as the production facilities.

On 24 March 1947, the company founder Mathias Wiemann died, leaving the business to his son Wilhelm.

By 1948, the company is employing 187 people and staff shortages lead Wilhelm to found a training workshop for 20-30 carpenters annually. 

Over the decade, Wiemann invested more than five million DM, acquiring more land and building new units, expanding the premises to 32,000 sq m and employing an average of 550 employees – 200 of them skilled workers).

A chipboard factory was opened on the site in 1960, modern polyester painting systems are introduced and veneering, once a largely manual process, is transformed into a largescale industrialised process.

The 1960s is a time of overseas expansion, to the USA, Canada, South America, Asia, Arabia, South Africa and Cyprus.

In January 1966, Wilhelm’s son Mathias Andreas Wiemann joined the business as a partner with a 50% shareholding; and on 30^th May 1968, Markus Wiemann – the current MD – is born.

By the 1980s, Wiemann was one of the five largest bedroom factories in Germany. The decade saw production switched over to made to order; a new multi-story parts warehouse built and covered links between units created to ensure all-weather movement within the long, narrow site, which is  boundaried by river one side and a railway line the other.

The old inn on the site where the business began back in 1900 is integrated into a new office block.

By the end of the decade distribution had been outsourced, it being more efficient not to have empty trucks returning to the factory.

On 28^th March 1986, Wilhelm Wiemann died and in 1988 the business became a limited company.

The year 2000 saw the company celebrate its centenary in style and in 2005 Markus Wiemann takes over the business from his father Mathias Andreas.

It’s a decade of continued further investment and modernisation of production facilities, all the time focused on productivity, quality and, increasingly, sustainability.

In 2010 the river Düte once again overflowed, flooding large parts of the premises – but thanks to a concerted effort from the workforce plus neighbouring farmers and the fire brigade, operations are resumed after just four days.

In 2003, Litmus Furniture became the sole agent for Wiemann in the UK and Ireland and started to build up the company’s business here. Today it is Wiemann’s largest export market.